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Write a 2-3 page explication of Thomas Hardy's
Neutral Tones.
Remember, an explication is a line-by-line close reading
which, though it must be driven by an interpretation of the poem (that is, an
opening moment which says to us "I think the poem means this"), attempts to
account for as much and as many of the poetic elements which the poet uses.
It must be systematic -- this would be the whole line-by-line thing -- and show
the connections between elements. For instance, you might say the tone is
established in the first quatrain through the dictional choices of "chidden,"
"starving," and "gray," all of which have overtones of severity.
| Things to look out for when reading: |
Imagery: concrete and abstract
 | "Imagery" is always about the senses; if something
can't be experienced by the senses then it's not actually imagery.
Your possibilities here are visual, auditory, olfactory (smell), gustatory
(taste), and tactile (touch). |
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Figurative Language
| Metaphor and simile: these are the two
you're most familiar with, I'm betting. Remember that there are
three elements to each metaphor or simile, the tenor (that which is being
compared), the vehicle (the item used for comparison), and the ground (the
things which crop up because of the comparison). Thus in "my love is
like a red, red rose" we've got "my love" for a tenor, "rose" for a
vehicle" and "beautiful, sweet smelling, tender, etc." for ground. |
| Personification and Anthropomorphism: the
first you know -- giving human characteristics to inhuman items -- but the
second may be new to you. It's simply giving animal characteristics
to non-animal things. |
| Synecdoche and metonymy: if metaphor and
simile are comparisons based on attributes, synecdoche and metonymy are
comparisons based on proximity. Synecdoche is part for the whole:
you ask someone to lend you a hand when you actually want their whole
body; you talk about seeing sails, when you mean you're actually seeing
ships. Metonymy is a renaming based on something closely associated
with the tenor. Thus, we refer to military generals as "brass"
because of their copious medals, or "the head of the class" because the
best students sit up front, at the "top" of the room and everyone knows
that the top of anything is its "head." |
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Language Effects
| Here we've got several things to consider. The
first is diction. This is word choice, pure and simple.
However, as Oscar Wilde put it, "the truth is rarely pure and never
simple." Words come with both denotations, their dictionary
definitions, and connotations, their overtones and cultural
accretions. When you're reading a poem or other literary work, be
aware of all the definitions of key words because you might find,
once you check out the OED that there may be some which you don't
know which might apply in the current context. Also, be thinking
about all those ways in which the word brings meanings with it.
"White" for instance, brings "purity," innocence," etc. with it, although
those may never occur in a list of its denotations. |
| Alongside diction, we're going to have to think
about tone. Tone is partially established by diction.
If I say "metonymy" rather than "that one thing," you can be pretty sure
that I'm more formal in the first instance than in the second.
Diction can help tell us about the speakers and how they feel about their
topics. However, syntax, or the order of words in the lines
or sentences, can also establish this. If the poet uses lots of
inversions (reversing subjects and verbs -- "felt she" for "she felt"),
for instance, it's likely they're trying to sound poetic, since the
only place we do this is in poetry (and in asking questions).
Diction and syntax come together to help us establish tone,
then. |
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| Form Concentrating
on poetry for the time being, form is about the physical appearance
of the work on the page, as well as about the internal events within the
lines or sentences.
| Note line breaks first. What words are
emphasized with that slight visual pause at a line's end? Is there
punctuation or is the line enjambed? Does the poet seem to be
playing with the length of lines? |
| Now let's think about sound patterns. Do you see
alliteration, consonance, assonance, or caesura?
Figure out if there is a dominant pattern and what it might signify.
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| An obviously significant sound pattern is rhyme.
Is the poem rhymed? What's its scheme? Is the rhyme perfect
or slant or eye? |
| Likewise, one way to define poetry is to talk of it as
metered speech. If you know anything about prosody can you
scan the poem's meter and where it shifts significantly? |
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Symbol
| A sign is something which stands in for one item.
If you see a red octagonal sign, for instance, you know to stop.
Signs, in order to function correctly, have to be unambiguous.
Symbols, on the other hand, are signs that stand for more than one
thing. A white flag, for instance, can mean surrender if it's flown
by an army; if it's dropped by a Lady at a joust, it is a symbol of her
purity and she wants it attached to an equally pure (and powerful)
knight's lance. Same sign, two meanings. Thus, it's a symbol.
Does this poem have symbols in it, a physical object which stands for more
than itself? |
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Theme
| There is no "reading" of a poem if you can't say what
you think it's about. After charting all of the elements above as
you work through this poem, can you see something which Hardy seems to
want to convey -- and convey strongly -- within the poem? To discuss
a theme is not to restate the poem's plot. Thus, this poem is not
about "a guy talking about a fight he had with his lover." That's
its subject, but not its theme. Remember, a theme is a
generalization which incorporates the content of the text, but moves
beyond it, too. Thus, a sample theme from "Meeting at Night"
might be "love overcomes all distances." |
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Thesis
| Once you've got your theme, you need to generate a
thesis from it. A thesis is a proposition which you must support
with examples from the text and an explanation of what you see.
It is based on the theme but focuses our reading and your concentration
upon the text at hand using the literary elements above as focusing
devices. A thesis on "Meeting at Night" might be "Although love
overcomes all distances, the rhyme and imagery of "Meeting at Night"
demonstrates that love can't always stay." We'll be working on these all
semester, but I want you to take your first crack at them now, here.
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| For an explication is it
not necessary that your
thesis make explicit the poetic elements which you explore; your task is
to see them all and talk through them as best you can while still telling
me what you think the poem means and why. |
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A Final Note:
If you try to fit absolutely everything noted here into an
explication, though ideally you should, you're going to go nuts. The key
here is to work through these elements for yourself and then write a draft where
you keep in only the essential pieces -- line by line, working your way through
the poem -- so that you can stay within the 2-3 page limit.
As always, assays must be typed and double-spaced.
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